11 week old won't take bottle anymore..help

[MikaylasMummy]

I breastfeed my 11 week old but he has had the occasional bottle of expressed milk if I go out or need to do something it's been 2 weeks max since he had a bottle last and he suddenly won't have a bar of it!he screams for food but gags and pushes the bottle out with his tongue wev tried for two nights now since I have a girls night out in two weeks and a holiday where we plan on going to the casino and using a babysitter in 5 weeks and now I don't know what the hell to do!!please give me any ideas u can.we didn't change the bottles or flow or anything.I am trying to get him used to them again once a day by two weeks from now so he can be fed or I just can't go!!

 

[Mum22GTTC]

I posted the same question yesterday over in the bf section. My LO is 12 weeks and has 1 or 2 bottles of EBM a week - had one fine last Monday, but has since refused

Only suggestion was to keep trying every day.

Good luck

 

[MikaylasMummy]

Thanks for ur reply!I will just keep trying I guess!hard when it's expressed and I have to keep throwing it out when he won't take it!!

 

[louisiana]

can u just freeze what he wont take so u dont have to throw it away.
perseverance is def required,just keep trying with the bottleand good luck

 

[Mum22GTTC]

I know hun! I had to throw 12oz out because LO refused the bottles when we were out at the weekend

I'm going to try him later with just 1oz in a bottle, if he takes it I'll then swap him to the boob quickly. But if he won't have, it won't be such a waste.

 

[little_pod]

I had to nanny for a little girl a few years back-before i have had my own baby who is now 8 weeks old....- and basically this little girl was 10 weeks old and was being breastfed by her mum, but however her mum had to go back to work..yes very early i know! so the mum started expressing her milk into bottles when her little girl was about 7 weeks old to get her use to taking bottles before she returned to work.She was happy taking both the breast and the bottle, until she got to about 12 weeks old and just refused to have the bottle in her mouth.Me and the mum had to work together, and as hard as it was for her, she had to stop breast feeding and just express her milk until her baby was use to taking a bottle again. The 12 week old baby went 23hours without taking a bottle and the mum did a really good job of not givign in and just giving her the boob! The baby after 23 hours took a whole 5oz of her mums expressed milk from a bottle...and the mum continued to do this for 6 or 7 days-no breastfeeding-just expressing and the baby was then taking a bottle like there hadnt been any problems.The mum then started breastfeeding again and the little girl was taking the breast and the bottle without any problems.I think when babies get to 10 weeks they realise the difference between a bottle teat and their mums breast. It's hard if you have to go back to work or you are laeving the baby with someone ( cant just whip your boob out! ) and they are still so young as they will refuse a bottle-it's not what they are use to- but if your baby is slightly older he will more than likely not develop the problem of taking breast and bottle-as all he wants is milk-so he isnt too bothered if it is from breast of bottle.
Im not sure if im making sense and wording it properly, but what im trying to say is that if you are planning on leaving your baby from a young age-from 8 weeks or so, then i would try and get them taking your expressed milk from a bottle, a good few weeks before you plan to leave them, and make sure they are happy taking a bottle, and then you can introduce the breast again...or you could give bottle during the day, and have them take the breast for their first morning feed and their last bed time feed.
You have got to perserve, and it is extreemly hard, but if a baby is hungry he will eat, wether it is a bottle or breast...in this mums case it took her daughter of 12 weeks to go a whole 23 hours without milk, and then the mum had to stick to expressing her milk into a bottle for a week-her baby then had no problems taking both the breast and bottle.xx

 

[MikaylasMummy]

I am going to get some tomee tippee closer to mature bottle and give that a try..he will be 14 weeks old when I leave him for a couple of hours so getting a little older..ad about 4 months when we go out for a night.I guess I will just have to keep trying and wait til he is really hungry!thanks ladies

 

[lme7233]

My 11 week old is doing the same thing, pushing the bottle out with her tongue. We have resorted to giving her the pacifier briefly and then quickly swapping in the bottle. It seems to have worked so far but its a shame that she doesn't want to eat regularly. Hopefully this is just a phase as I go back to work next week.

 

[Kato2]

Had this issue only last week. 5 days of trying him everyday and he eventually has remembered how to take a bottle again. My suggestions would be to try at every feed. My LO cracked it when he had a night feed- wa half asleep so think he was on auto pilot and not over thinking it!

 

[MikaylasMummy]

Wow this is an old thread =) this 11 week old is now 2 years old!!
He never did take the bottle til I decided to stop bf at 6 months and then I had to go cold turkey and once he realised he wasn't getting breast anymore he took the bottle fine.unfortunatley,until 6 months he was exclusive bf as he new it was there if he wanted it and he didn't need to take the bottle